


Lost Little Town

by Narwhal_Demon



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: ???? - Freeform, Character Death, Fight Scenes, Gen, I Tried, Might be a lil gay, Mild Language, Mysteries, Not sure if I'm bringing cecilos into this, Possible other deaths, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, Tagged as general cause I'm not sure, Welcome to Night Vale - Freeform, What Happened to Night Vale, maybe gore??, what even is tagging, will tag as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:34:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narwhal_Demon/pseuds/Narwhal_Demon
Summary: Fresh out of college, a journalist-to-be stumbles upon a mysterious story. A town lost not only in time, but in memory. Determined to uncover the truth and make a name for themselves, our reporter heads west in search of Night Vale. But information is sparse and conflicting. Not only that, but someone knows. They know and they don't approve. Is this a government cover up? Or something more sinister? Will they be able to find out what happened to the desert community or will they die trying? ON HIATUS WILL CONTINUE EVENTUALLY





	1. An Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is my first fanfiction. Hopefully, you like it. If you see any errors or anything, let me know. Much appreciated and enjoy!! Also, eventually I am going to go back and fix the tags. I just wanted to get this posted and done before I do.

Intro: Discovering A Mystery

Listen, what I'm about to tell you... you can't tell anyone. It, this story, wasn't meant to be known. Hell, even I'm not supposed to know it. But, **_fuck_** , secrets like this where never meant for one person to carry. I stumbled upon it while I was investigating the story of a little town that dropped off the map some thirty odd years ago. It seemed strange to me. How does a town, even a small one like that, just disappear? So I went digging. I expected maybe a government secret, like a quarantine for an escaped disease or experiment. Hell, even a cover up for secret arms deals! Not.. not this!! I wasn't expecting... Look, I'm not a religious person. I don't have a God or Deity I pray to. I'll level with you for a second. Those fancy ideals and faiths? They never called to me. Didn't seem real. After what I found? I'd be surprised if the fucking Easter Bunny didn't exist somewhere. Anyway, it's best if I get to the God forsaken story. I don't think I have much time left, and like I said, these kinda things aren't meant to be known. There's consequences for knowing. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll be fine. After all, you think this is just another scary story written to provide a damn thrill.

I was just fresh out of college and trying to prove myself. I had great plans for my future. I was gonna be the best damn journalist out there. Covering everything from war to famine with all the facts governments don't want you to know. So there I was, still naive and starry-eyed, digging through records in some run down library. I was looking for a story. Something to make bigwigs for papers like the NewYork Times notice me. God, I wanted to be noticed. If I could just find a story good enough to get out there, I could start changing things. Make the world better. I was a damned fool. Well anyway, there I am reading old news clippings and conspiracies and finding nothin'. I was getting frustrated and it was getting late. It was just story after story on town fires and crop circles. Kidnappings, serial killers, government agencies and dealings with the water supply. Nothing big, nothing interesting! I was getting ready to give up and maybe head home to scour the internet. Not sure why I didn't in the first place, but I'm glad I didn't. Probably wouldn't have found what I did.

It was an article about a little town in Nevada, Night Vale, that had dropped off the map. There one day, gone the next. The article mentioned a natural disaster that ravaged the place. Said something about a sand storm sweeping through that was so severe, it just... buried the place in nineteen eighty-three. The more I read, the more confused I got. Night Vale? Sand storm? I had never heard of the place. You'd think with a disaster like that, there'd be more awareness of it. Help for those that lost family. A memorial. Something! But no, I never heard anything. I decided to look into it. I felt that I had something. This! This was my story! God, I wish I could take it back.

I took the news clipping home with me that night and did some more research. I had to be sure that I wasn't just clueless and uninformed. I think I researched for days. I pulled up old maps from now, all the way back to the year the article claimed Night Vale was founded. Which was way back. Pretty close to when we gained Nevada as a State. Night Vale wasn't on any of those maps. There weren't any websites that mentioned it. No memorials I didn't know about. No death anniversaries. The little town wasn't anywhere and I was getting suspicious. I thought maybe the government was hiding something. They had to of been, what with the lack of information, and I was determined to find out what. I took everything I found, or the lack of it, and packed a bag. I was going to go find Night Vale and figure out what happened. The consequences be damned. I figured if I first found mention of this small town in a library, that’s where I’d find more. I was going to look through every library I came across on my way to Nevada. Hopefully those dusty, forgotten corners would reveal more information on this mystery.

I drove all over the country checking out different libraries in hopes of finding something. I almost gave it up as a fluke, too. But finally I found something in one of the smaller towns out west. The article I found was... disturbing. This one talked about a failed nuclear experiment. Apparently, the resulting explosion was large enough to reach the little town of Night Vale, which was a whole ten miles closer than Las Vegas. The devastation the explosion wrought was horrific. Not only did the town of scientists and other personnel working on the bombs die, but so did everything within a fifty-five mile radius. Night Vale was unlucky enough to be just within reach of the explosion. Everything twenty miles in was literally vaporized, but in Night Vale? Oh, in Night Vale was something straight out a damned nightmare. There was a picture of mangled buildings and festering bodies. I about damn near threw up.

I sat there in confused shock. What the hell was this? The first article claimed natural disaster in 1983, but this one stated a man made one in 1941. What? Something wasn't adding up here and I'd be damned if I left it lyin'. I searched through that small town library for days. Tried to find anything else related to that second article and came up empty-handed. I didn't let this deter me. I finally had something, I just knew it! Whatever it was, it was gonna get me noticed. So I kept headin' west. I planned to do as much research as I could on my way to find Night Vale and nothing was gonna stop me now.

I had driven for months, my inability to not look through every damn library I came across slowin' me down. Took me a while to realize the smaller towns were where I wanted to be. It was worth it though. After the first month I could feel someone followin' me. I never saw anyone, but I've always trusted my instincts. They knew. Not sure who they where, or when they figured it out and found me, but they did. I had to be careful here. I had always heard stories about people disappearing because they dug too much. I'd be damned if I went that route, too. I was gonna get this story out to the public if it killed me. Nearly did, too.

I was in West Virgina at the time. I had found another article, this one about a war that ended badly on America's side, with nearly half the nation gone. I was comparing this article with the first two when a man approached. Can't really say what he looked like, all I can remember was that he wasn't tall. Had some sort of partner with him that hung back, this one not short. Anyway, the man who wasn't tall walked up like he wanted to maybe ask a question about what I was reading or something. When he got to me, though, he just sat down and stared. Hard. That lasted about twenty minutes and I was getting an uncomfortable feeling from both of them. Then he leaned toward me and just about snarled in me face to stop.

"Leave," he said," and stop looking into things that are none of your concern."

"I suggest," carried on the man who wasn't short," that you listen to him."

It didn't seem too threatening, what they were saying, but a chill crept down my spine at the mock concern I got from them.

"Do you know something? Can you tell me why none of these articles make sense," I asked. I never did know when to quit.

“Listen kid, some things are best left alone. This story you think you have? It isn’t worth your life. I’m just trying to help you out,” The man who wasn’t tall said. Seemed pretty sincere, too.

The man who wasn’t short added,” My partner’s right. Get goin’ kid, before you get yourself in too deep. There’s still time to turn around.”

“I can’t just leave this! There’s something here and I will find out what. You can’t hide the truth forever!” I had yelled.

“Have it your way, kid. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The man who wasn’t tall got this look about him, then. Like he maybe regretted what he was gettin’ ready to do. I tensed myself in preparation. No way in hell was I gonna let these two government jockeys scare me away from a scoop this big. He launched himself at me, the man who wasn’t tall. Tried to rip my research from me. I managed to keep my notes and tried to punch him. The man who wasn’t tall was pretty fucking strong though. Knocked my head against the table and sent it ringin’. In my daze I didn’t see the man who wasn’t short walk up behind me. He grabbed me around the neck and I panicked. I thrashed and flailed, tried anything to get out of his grip. He stood firm, unmoved, and I was losing consciousness pretty fucking fast.

“I’m sorry, but you should have listened,” muttered the man who wasn’t short.

I stood there gaspin’ for breath and in a last ditch effort to free myself, stabbed him with my pen. It worked and I pushed myself away from him. Dazedly, I gathered what I could from my table and tried to run past the man who wasn’t tall. He yanked me back by my hair and I cried out in pain. Where the library staff and patrons were during this, I don’t know. I fell to the ground, my research spread around me. The man who wasn’t tall stared down at me.

“This is it,” I thought,” I’m going to die.” A couple tears leaked from my eyes.

The man who wasn’t tall pulled out some sort of syringe. He looked sorry for me. I could hear the man who wasn’t short gathering up my papers. As the man who wasn’t tall bent over me, I kicked out. Caught him in the chest. He dropped the syringe and I scrambled for it while he gasped for breath. I got up as fast as I could and before the man who wasn’t short could do anything, plunged the needle in his neck. The effect was instantaneous. The man who wasn’t short dropped to the ground as his eyes rolled back. He foamed at the mouth and twitched once, twice. Then he was still. I didn't have time to process what I had done. I turned to the man who wasn’t tall. He was still bent over gaspin’ for breath. I kicked him in the face as hard as I could and hurried to gather my papers. As I ran out, I looked back. Both men were on the ground, one dead, the other injured and unconscious. I didn’t stay in town long after that.

By the time I felt safe enough to stop, I managed to find myself in Northern Ohio, up near Michigan. I hadn’t meant to drive north. I was freaked out enough that I hadn’t payed attention. I rented a room for the night in some seedy motel. Figured I’d lay low and try to come up with a plan. It was clear that I got myself into somethin’ deep here. There wasn’t an option to go back, either. They already proved they could find me. Were determined to stop me.

That night as I compared the articles again, I noticed they all had one thing in common. Each was about an event that led to the destruction or subsequent disappearance of Night Vale. Only the first and third had the same date of the disaster. Whichever was the real one. With only this to go on, I would start looking for articles dated for 1983. Hopefully, I would find somethin’.

That first day in the motel I tried to think of something I could do. But, If the government was really behind this, then there wasn’t anyone I could turn to. I thought about the man who wasn’t short and how I killed him. I’ll admit I considered turning back. Like I said though, where could I go? They’d find me. If I was gonna die, I was gonna damn well make sure I figured out Night Vale first. The best course of action I could come up with was to keep driving. Keep driving and searching. I’d try to be more discreet and move fast. It wouldn’t be long before they found me again, if they didn’t already know. So, with my mind made up and a plan of sorts, I set out the next day. There was a sense of foreboding deep in my bones. This wouldn’t end well, I knew, but my search had to continue.I was going to find Night Vale and the secrets they buried. I’d make sure the world knew what happened that year in 1983 if it killed me.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo! Chapter two! So pumped. I hope you like it. And keep in mind that some of those tags don't apply, or may not apply yet. Or they might change. I'm waiting to see where this goes, too. And thank you for reading.

Chapter One: Libraries

The next couple articles I found were more like that second one. But only in the sense that the disaster dates were different. One for a fire in 1904. One about a massacre around the town’s birth in 1866. There was one for economic destabilization in 1930, one year after the depression started. That was the tamest story I came across. The only one where people didn’t die.

It was only after I made it to Missouri that I even found anything dated for 1983. By then I had been on the road for four months. After what happened in West Virginia I had been paranoid. Always felt like someone was watchin’. I never saw anyone during those months, but my skin crawled. The libraries in those small towns started given me the creeps. I felt like I was being stalked. I felt like prey. I tried to shake it off and keep goin’, but paranoia can make a sane man do crazy things. I ended up buyin’ a gun and pepper spray during the drive through Illinois. Haven’t gone anywhere without them.

But anyways, this article, it was detailing an explosion from a nuclear reactor. Apparently, the little town had been the head of research for nuclear energy before the accident. The weird part about it was that no one had heard of the explosion for several months. The town had gone silent. No phone calls, emails, texts messages. Hell, there weren’t even requests for product delivery. Finally, a representative for the company that owned the power plant went out to see what was going on. He wasn’t seen again. The company, Strexcorp, investigated the area for months. They discovered huge amounts of radiation in the area and figured the plant exploded. They couldn’t figure out where the town had gone.

I was confused. Not because of the article, though that was confusing. No, what stumped me was the mention of Strexcorp. That company hadn’t been up and running for thirty years now. It was coming close to being a household name when a scandal hit in the nineties. Strex had been experimenting with mixing technology and living creatures. Biotech, they called it. The government wasn’t too happy with the breach of morals or somethin’. Strex got shut down a year or two after. I did my thesis on the company and not once did anything pop up about nuclear energy. Just what the hell was going on here?

I left that small town in Missouri pretty quickly after that. I wasn’t too sure, but I thought I saw a man in a tan jacket watching me. I’d seen him before once or twice. Couldn’t be sure it was the same man, though. I can’t really recall what he looked like, all I remember is that tan jacket and a deerskin suitcase. It wouldn’t be the last time I saw him.

It was as I was driving that the thought came to me. Maybe those articles, the ones with different dates, were trying to get me off the trail. It seemed silly, but all I had to go one was that matching date. What if there was a possibility that it meant something? I’d always been too nosy, diggin’ into things I shouldn’t of. It’s what could have made me a great reporter. It’s what forfeited my life.

I made it to Kansas near the end of that fourth month. I didn’t think I’d get that far. I was somewhere just outside Wichita when I saw him again. The man in the tan jacket. I was starting to get more paranoid than usual. Not only was this man showing up, but there was a gentle shushing sound following me around in the libraries. No one else seemed to notice it. Thought maybe it was just in my head. I hadn’t been sleepin’ too well at this point, so I just wrote it off. That man, though, I swear I’ve seen him before. At least I think I did. Maybe I was just hallucinating, I don’t know. For all I knew, tan jackets were popular.

So, thinkin’ the sleep deprivation was starting to take it’s toll, I pulled off at a motel. Figured a night wouldn’t hurt. That was the first mistake I made. The second was actually falling asleep. I don’t know what the fuck happened that night, but after that I didn’t sleep much. The dreams, no the _nightmares_ , I suffered after that seemed too real. Probably because they were...

Pretty much as soon as I closed my eyes I found myself in a library. It was creepier than hell, let me tell you. I couldn’t see further than ten feet in front of my face and it was cold. Everything looked old and decrepit. Stained carpets, creaky shelves, cobwebs and inches of dust coating everything. It smelled like old books and rotting wood. Reminded me of those stereotypical villain hideouts. There was that strange shushing sound, too. It sounded like clothes rubbing together. Like the drawing of curtains, or the swish of paper falling. Everything about this place put me on edge. I felt watched. I was prey here and I knew it.

I, stupidly, decided to make my way through the shelves. Maybe I would find something. More information or an exit.

As I walked I noticed it got darker, dirtier. And that shushing got louder. It was more like flipping through a book slowly. Or maybe quiet T.V. static is more accurate. Either way it made the hair on my neck stand. I had to be careful here. Quiet. I didn’t want to be caught. Caught by what I wasn’t sure, but I knew I wouldn’t survive it. That’s when I saw it. A shadow flicker past my peripheral. I feel silly now, but at the time it made my heart race. I walked a bit faster.

It seemed like the further I went, the more I felt like I was being hunted. One shadow turned into two. Two into three into four. I felt my heart pounding. My breathing was becoming shallow. I was trying to jog quietly at this point. Desperate to find an exit, I wound myself through the towering bookshelves. I was lost. Lost in some creepy fucking library being hunted by who knows what. I couldn’t get a breath in. I was panicking and breathing felt too loud. But the shushing, dear god the shushing. It was like the ocean now, angry and relentless. I had to get out of here.

Left, right, straight. I kept going, kept gettin’ more worked up as time marched on. If I couldn’t get out of here… I didn’t want to think about it. I rounded a corner and misjudged the distance between me and the shelf. I ran into it. Didn’t think to silence the exclamation of pain. I slapped my hands over my mouth and listened. And I noticed it. The shushing had stopped and I sighed with relief. Too soon, I realized, when the shushing picked up in volume. It was like someone screaming quietly in my ear for silence. I ran for it. I didn’t care how loud I was at this point. They knew where I was and it was useless to be quiet now. That was when I took a left and ran right into some… some thing. It was like a creature right out of Lovecraft’s stories with its rows of teeth and tentacles. It shrieked in my face and lashed out at me. Knocked me back with a wet smack. I hit a shelf on the way down. Then, the creature was leaning over me, it’s mouth drawn in a snarl. The saliva burned where it landed on my face.

I felt more of them behind me, but this one was my immediate concern. How the hell was I gonna get out of this one? I was lucky last time. With grim realization I knew there was no escaping this. I threw books at it as it wrapped a tentacle around my middle and lifted me.I struggled as it brought me close to it’s face. I felt like it was inspecting me. Like it was looking for a good place to bite into. The tentacle wrapped around me tighter and I couldn’t breathe. I struggled, tried to pull away. I tried and tried, but all I managed was panicked gasps. Felt like my lungs were on fire. Everything was going dark around the edges. Suddenly, there was pain in my right shoulder and my arm was wet for some reason. I felt like I was under water. Just as I started to pass out from the fear, I heard a faint yell and my body was dropped. I saw a shadowy figure approach.

I woke up sometime a little after two in the morning with a yelp. As I struggled to catch my breath, I noticed a burning in my right shoulder. When I looked, there were bandages. I felt myself pale. I didn’t have those when I went to bed. I didn’t have _those._ **_I didn’t have..!_** Shakily, I made my way to the bathroom. Numbly, I looked at the bite wound on my shoulder.

Standing there in that dimly lit bathroom, I came to an understanding about several things. One, this wasn’t just some government scandal anymore. Two, I was in more danger than I thought I was. And three? I was gonna need all the divine intervention I didn’t believe in to help me now.

Needless to say I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. That next morning as I went to get in my car, I saw him. The man in the tan jacket. And _God Dammit!_   Where the fuck had I seen that man. I knew I’d seen him. I’m not fucking crazy! It was the same man. His face was… and those eyes. You don’t forget eyes like that. First, that crazy ass dream reality, then that bullshit. I was sick of it. For fuck’s sake! I was going to confront that man in the tan jacket. I’d almost died twice already, what’s a third? I was going to bring my gun with me just in case.

...................

The next time I’m aware of my surroundings, I’m a hundred miles or so out from Colorado. The sun is setting. I’m just sitting in my car. What the hell happened? I vaguely remember talking to someone. A hitchhiker maybe? Why don’t I remember? For a second I panic. I don’t remember getting in my car or driving. And my research! But no, it’s all there in my bag in the passenger seat. I still have my gun, too. I slump forward and just breathe for a second. In… and out…

I try to think about the day once I’m calm again. Nothing. Just a man in a tan jacket with a deerskin suitcase. And, huh, I swear I know him. Seeing as I can’t recall anything, I decide to just start my car and go. Maybe it’d come to me while I drove. It’s while I was driving that I see it. A note. It’s stuck to the dash. I was a little nervous lookin’ at it, but paper can’t hurt you. So I read it:

 

 

 

> **"We know who you are. Where you are and where you’re going. Stop looking. Don’t concern yourself in something you don’t understand, kid. Stop looking for night vale and go home."**  
>  **~E**

It isn’t the most threatening warning I had received. It seems almost concerned. Probably what made me pause. But, no, I couldn’t go home. Not after everything that’s happened. I had already found so much, even if it didn’t seem like much. I had to keep going. Something was pulling me, urging me to keep going. Sorry to disappoint E, whoever you are, but I couldn’t stop now. Something, be it fate or destiny, was dragging me down that path. There was no out for me even if I wanted one. So... I drove on. And as I drove, I passed a man in a tan jacket on my right.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Lovelies! Sorry this chapter took so long. Kinda lost my muse there for a bit. But, I got it up! YAY!! I hope you enjoy it. and don't be afraid to let me know what you think or of there are any errors.

Chapter Two: Small Towns

Small towns are weird. They each have their own traditions, dialect, way of life. So I didn’t think much of the odd behavior. It started off subtle enough. A few odd buildings here, strange statues there. I stopped in one for gas. The people I could hear were muttering what sounded like gibberish. Figured it was local slang or something.The closer I got to Night Vale, though, the weirder those small towns got.

I forgot most of the towns in the beginning. They were irrelevant, a means to an end. But there was one, Kindness, that I won’t ever forget. It was small for a town. Probably the smallest I had seen at this point. Kindness was a picture of the American Dream. White picket fences, small Mom and Pop diners, and oddly smelled like apple pie. The police station was next to the post office; Both of which were down the street from City Hall. Church in the town square looked like it belonged in an old west movie. Houses all lined up like perfect teeth. The people were dressed like they were still livin’ in the fifties and had a friendly smile for their neighbors. It was the kind of town where everybody knew everybody and nothing interesting happened. At least, that’s what I thought.

I had only been driving through for what seem like five minutes, when I noticed no one was doing anything. The citizens of Kindness were just standing around. They were statuesque in their stillness. And watching me. The only visible movement was the craning of their necks to keep on watching. I was getting creeped out. I thought maybe it was one of those small town things. I reasoned they probably didn’t get too many passer- throughs. Of course they’d stare. But the deeper into Kindness I drove, the more people were just standing. Just staring. They’d stop what they were doin’ to look. When I checked the rearview, they were still staring.

They started tricklin’ into the street. Every couple of feet or so there’d be more people. It was making driving difficult. I nearly hit a couple people. Slammed the brakes so hard my tires squealed. If they didn’t like outsiders, they could have found a better way to tell me. This was bordering on a whole new level of psychotic.

“ _And, ok, what the **fuck** is this town’s problem_ ,” I remember thinkin’.

I had looked back at the road at this point. Except I couldn’t see the damn thing. Seemed like the whole town was there, closin’ in on my car. I opened the door and got out. They all took a step closer. I pulled out my gun. Another step.

“Kindly get the fuck out my way, thank you,” I said.

There was a ringing sort of silence. And then...

“There is no Kindness here…. No Kindness,” one voice said. It sounded like hollow wind.

“No Kindness...

No Kindness...

No Kindness...” An echo.

“Look, I’ve got somewhere to be. If you could just move so I can leave, That’d be great,” I said.

“Won’t you give us some… Kindness, stranger.”

“Give us…

Give… us…

Give……”

Something was wrong here. More wrong than just a town full of crazies. I didn't plan on sticking around to find out what. These people clearly weren’t gonna move. So I pointed my gun skyward and pulled the trigger.

“The next bullet will be aimed at one of you. Now move!”

“That wasn’t very kind, stranger.” The town took a collective step toward me. “Won’t you be Kind? I know you can be.”

“Be Kind, stranger….

Be Kind…

Be… **_Kind…_** ”

It was that last echo that got to me more than anything else. It vibrated around me. Swept like wind over me, through me. It was the pounding of drums. The shaking of the earth. That echo was both ancient and young all at once. And it sounded hungry.

As I watched the people of Kindness, their faces started to drip off. It was like someone was holding a candle to them. Layers of skin and flesh flowing like water down faces. Soon I was just lookin’ at bone white skulls. The eyes were still in the sockets. All of ‘em looking at me. Watching. It was then that I noticed a wriggling in the clothes the towns’ people wore. Like what didn’t melt away was tryin’ to escape. Like they were too big for their bodies. They stepped closer. The nearest body had to of been ten feet from me.

I wanted to hurl. I wanted to cry or scream in terror. I tried to rip my gaze from them. Tried to get back in my car. But I couldn’t move. My eyes were riveted on the sight in front of me. And the more I looked, the more I saw. Each passing moment showing me the underlying horror that was Kindness, Colorado.

“Everyone is equal in death, Stranger. A great Kindness indeed. Oh, but Stranger, there is no greater Kindness than giving us our next meal. Won’t you give us some... Kindness? It’s been decades since the last person came. Since the last... Kindness.”

“ _So… Hungry…._

_….Give… us…._

. ** _..Feed… Us…!_** ”

Those words were like a signal. Between one blink and the next, the people of Kindness exploded. Strips of cloth floated down around me and a fine red mist clung to the air. From the mess burst forth clouds of chittering insects. All around me there was noise. A buzzing cacophony of sound. It droned in my ears like an engine refusing to turn over; Loud and insistent. As the noise reached its peak, a sharp pain struck between my eyes.

Just as the citizens of Kindness exploded, I was able to rip myself from my stupor. I scrambled to get back in my car. I had to get away from here. But, the pain in my head made it hard to focus, to move. I fell as I turned around. That’s when I felt it. Them. They were crawling all over me. Finding crevices in my clothes to get to my flesh. The insects were biting at me. Ripping pieces of my flesh off. And still that awful chittering sound and the pain in my head. I frantically smacked at my body, trying to squash the little fuckers.

I could feel more and more making their way into my clothing. The pain I felt as they bit at me was indescribable. Lurching to my feet, I smacked at my face and neck as I went. I had to get to the car. My skin had become slick with blood and sweat; My vision obscured by red.

Somehow, I managed to stumble my way into my car. I was safe from the swarm circling me. At least for a little bit. I didn’t doubt that the little fucks would find their way in. The ones in my clothes were still biting at my. It felt like embers burrowing into my flesh. I started my car and sped off as fast as I could, smacking at anywhere I could reach. And still that giant cloud of flesheating horrors chased after me. I could see them wriggling their way in through the air vents.

The swarm of insects covering my car made it nearly impossible to see. I'm surprised even now I didn't run into a street light. I pressed the gas as far as it would go regardless, trying to to outrun my demise. Finally, finally, I started to pull ahead of the swarm. Could see daylight again. Within five minutes, the town limits were within sight. I could do this! But, i still had the bugs crawlin’ on me to worry about. I could feel them trying to crawl in my ears and mouth. I had to take the risk of smacking at my face as I drove. I’d be damned if I let them crawl around in my head.

I managed to make it past the town limits. When I looked back, the swarm of bugs had stopped right at the line. That’s when I noticed the lack of biting happening on my person. They were just crawling around now. I watched one land on the window and just rest there. I decided to stop the car about thirty feet from Kindness’ limits. When I got out, the bugs that had managed to get free of my clothes flew away. I stripped as fast as I could. Even though I didn’t feel them biting, I was still freaking out. Bug feet crawlin’ on my skin like that has always heralded that reaction from me. In an act of small revenge, I crushed the creepy crawlies that I could reach. I watched the rest fly off. When I felt sufficiently bug free I put my clothes back on. Then, I turned back to Kindness and stared for awhile.

As I watched, I saw the insects turn back to people. I was like watching a candle melt in reverse. As each new person was formed, they would turn around and leave. Eventually one person was left standing at the edge of Kindness. We watched each other for some time. As I was getting ready to turn around and leave I saw the last one wave to me.

“Come back and visit, Stranger. We’ll be **_Waiting_**.” They called cheerfully.

I shuddered as I got back in my car. I sat there for a long time. probably in shock. I had the inane thought that the blood was never going to come out. I giggled to myself. That turned into all out laughter and before I knew it, I was crying. Three times now I almost died. Three times. I should have never went searching for Night Vale. I should have stuck with the stories everyone was reporting on. It was too late to turn back now, though. So, I took a few deep breathes, wiped my face on my sleeve, and put my car into drive. Hopefully I would find a motel soon. My clothes were definitely ruined, but I didn’t want to sit in my own blood for too long. Already I could feel it drying to my skin. It was a sticky feeling. I was looking forward to a long, hot shower and a chance to check my wounds over. I just prayed no one would ask about the blood.


	4. NOT A CHAPTER I'M SO SORRY

okay, so to start I'm terribly sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't had the motivation. But, I'm finally going to try to get back into it. Which leads me to my second thing. I've been thinking about going through and editing my story. I originally put it up so that I had something on here, ya know? But now I think I actually want this to go somewhere instead of just being here as an idea place holder. I'm not going to up heave everything, but I feel like it could use a couple things here and there to help the story flow better, I don't know. So, if whoever is actually reading this could give me a bit to see if I do want to edit it, or even keep it, that would be great. Again, I'm sorry if anyone was waiting on me. If you have any ideas or noticed any errors, please let me know. That would be great. Love you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, Lovelies! What'd you think? Don't be afraid to leave any questions or comments. I'm going to try to make this a multi-chapter thing. So here's to hoping it goes well! And thank you for reading!!


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